Planters (i.e., open vessels for holding plants) have been around for millennia, at least since the times of Queen Hatshepsut of Thebes, Egypt who reigned from BC 1504 to 1482. Ancient wall paintings show baskets being used to transport trees that produced myrrh, a fragrant resin. Later Kubla Khan shipped exotic plants in pots back to China on the backs of elephants. In Athens, earthenware flower pots were thrown into the sea during the festival of the Gardens of Adonis. Many Roman and Etruscan paintings feature potted plants, including vessels supported atop pedestals. An ancient Chinese scholar and poet, Tao Qian (aka, Tao Yuanming) grew potted wild chrysanthemums. In the 1700s, pots were used to ship breadfruit seedlings from Tahiti to the West Indies. The HMS Bounty, which is best known for mutiny against the dictatorial Captain Bligh, sailed for Tahiti and the South Pacific to collect breadfruit trees and ship them in clay pots to the West Indies to start plantations producing cheap food to feed slaves.
Over time, many forms of elevated containers emerged. One particular form is the 17th-century Caisse de Versailles box, a square wooden container standing on legs. The sides were hinged so that the box could be opened for access to a liner which supported the plant. Other elevated planters include hanging baskets, which suspend from hooks on walls or ceilings. More recent additions to the elevated planter market include vessels mechanically fastened to posts or poles. The fasteners may comprise bolts, screws, clamps and the like. Today, hanging baskets adorn light posts as centerpieces of many downtown beautification projects.
Despite the incredibly long history and evolution of potted plants, until the present invention, planters have always been fixed structures. Whether hanging from a ceiling, clamped to a pole, set upon a pedestal or resting on a floor, heretofore planters have always been stationary structures. While such planters create an aesthetically pleasing appearance, they suffer several shortcomings.
One shortcoming is inflexibility. Typical planters cannot be easily adjusted, i.e., raised and/or lowered and rotated repeatedly, through a continuum of positions. Instead, they remain fixed at a certain elevation and angular orientation. Thus, watering an elevated planter and caring for the plant requires use of a ladder or other tools or removal of the planter and reinstallation after the task is completed. Evenly distributing sunlight entails removal and repositioning the planter. Prior art planters that are adjustable, require complex manual disassembly, removal of components, and reinstallation of the components at discrete installation points. Conventional suspended planters are typically difficult to reach and have limited angular adjustability, in 90 or 180-degree increments. Such tasks are time consuming, extremely laborious, inconvenient and fraught with risk. A safer, more versatile, easily adjustable planter system is needed.
Remarkably, over the millennia no known prior efforts have been devoted to raising and lowering planters. No prior apparatus had been devised to easily raise and lower plants over a continuum of positions.
Another shortcoming of conventional planters, particularly raised and suspended planters, is limited size and location. Planter size and location are limited to reduce installation and serviceability problems. Concomitantly, planter size and location are limited to accommodate available structural supports and mounting hardware. Thus, conventional planters are relegated to serving as minor decorative devices, rather than major ornamental and landscaping features unlimited in size and location. Yet another shortcoming of conventional planters, particularly ground planters, is the inability to showcase a colorful array of flowers above existing flora. While ground planters may be quite large and well suited to accommodate tall plants, they are not suitable for elevating small flowering plants.
Yet another shortcoming is lack of adjustable irrigation that can be configured to water a plant as well as surrounding terrain. Lacking a suitable irrigation system not only increases the maintenance requirements for elevated planters, but also compromises overall functionality. Irrigating from an elevated height would offer extended coverage of surrounding terrain, over fences, hedges, bushes and even small trees. This may reduce the total number of sprinkler heads needed on an irrigation line, which can also lead to a reduction in irrigation lines, valves, overall complexity and cost. Elevated sprinklers do not interfere with mowing. Elevated irrigation also enables attractive waterfall fountains and misting features, not otherwise available with conventional elevated planter systems. Misting at various times combined with irrigation allows ornamentals to flourish year around in warmer climate zones or even hot summers in milder climate areas where the expense of manual watering and misting prohibits initial consideration or continuation of such programs for businesses and municipalities and other end users.
Furthermore, businesses need ways to beautify commercial structures, such as buildings and signage, including billboards. Adorning commercial structures with foliage is one way to accomplish this objective. Opponents are less offended when commercial structures are beautified. Introducing more horticulture to their commercial environment by adding elevated planters would improve the aesthetics and help blend commercial structures into the surrounding landscape. However, such adornment is impractical where the added planters are not easily raised and lowered for maintenance and not self-irrigating.
Conventional suspended planters are usually restricted in size, height, and weight to avoid serviceability problems. Additionally, they are most often residentially restricted to suspension from existing structures relegating them to an incidental decoration, rather than a major landscaping feature that can be of any size, location and independent of a structural support system as a pole planter.
Conventional planters suspended on small poles installed by simple foot pressure are vulnerable to falling, even with the small planters featured. This shortcoming also relegates such planters to a subsidiary decorative device versus a major landscaping feature that can be a focal point.
Conventional ground planters are usually decorative at lower levels, which are easily within reach. They also can be of a large size and feature taller bushes, plants and trees starting in the first tiers of landscaping. However, they rarely are changed and cannot feature a large colorful array of different flowers at higher levels deeper into landscaping tiers.
Conventional planters suspended on ornamental street light poles present unique maintenance challenges. Pole-mounted banners and flags present similar maintenance problems. Such planters, banners and flags must be serviced by bucket trucks, which requires an expensive vehicle, consumes considerable labor and creates traffic and safety issues. Additionally, conventional suspended planters on ornamental street light poles and pole-mounted banners and flags must be serviced by bucket trucks during the early pre-traffic mornings, which is expensive and dangerous. Concomitantly, conventional non-ornamental poles used in streets and parking lots do not lend themselves well to wire basket aesthetics.
Conventional irrigation systems lack an aesthetically acceptable permanent high-rise sprinkler that is not immediately removed after each use. Sprinkling from a high point offers greater coverage advantage over fences, hedges, bushes and even small trees. This often reduces additional sprinkler heads needed on an irrigation line, which can also lead to a reduction in irrigation lines and valves. Ground level systems often pass over, or tear into the more delicate flowers and ornamental plants versus irrigating by “raining” down from above. There may even be some water savings in properly designed landscape and irrigation systems using the post-pole planter systems.
Conventional planters do not offer the additional flexibility of including waterfall features to be used in or around ponds, exterior or interior pools, or other landscaping choices on such fixed pole systems.
Architects require innovative decorative planters for exteriors, or interiors of buildings, such as lobbies of hotels, motels, condominiums and airports, etc., as well as exteriors around pools and patio areas. Conventional planters on a pillar are of marginal utility at best. A ceiling may be too high, unavailable or not architecturally suitable for suspending a conventional planter.
Many enterprises identify their business and advertise their goods and services using signage, which is indispensable to long-term viability and success. For some enterprises, a good portion of their business is derived from motorists spotting roadside signage or tall signs visible above treetops. Billboards are often drivers' primary way of finding out where food and fuel are available when driving on unfamiliar highways.
Unfortunately, many citizens, groups and government planners vigorously oppose proliferation and even maintaining billboards and large and elevated signage. Sign opponents complain that billboards cause too much clearing of trees, intrude on the surrounding landscape, and constitute a form of visual pollution. Some contend that signage in general contributes negatively to the mental climate of a culture by promoting products as providing feelings of completeness, wellness and popularity to motivate purchase. This opposition has led to strict sign and building codes.
Signage proponents counter that signs are indispensable for many businesses. They maintain that the presence of signs in rural areas is of value in reducing a driver boredom, which many believe is a positive contribution to highway safety. Proponents also observe that surveys of drivers and road users have shown that the lighting provided by billboards provide security and visibility to many motorists. Proponents maintain that larger signage, which is visible to motorists over greater distances, improves safety by allowing greater time to make necessary lane changes in ever increasing traffic flows.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) recognizes that many businesses, including the SBA's small business clients, depend upon advertising and identification. To protect their own loan portfolios while helping their clients' succeed, the SBA has trained field offices to join the fight against overly restrictive sign and building codes.
To temper the opposition, businesses need ways to beautify commercial structures, such as buildings and signage, including billboards. Adorning the commercial structures with foliage is one way to accomplish this objective. Opponents are less offended when commercial structures are beautified. Introducing more horticulture to their commercial environment improves the aesthetics, draws attention and helps blend commercial structures into the surrounding landscape. Adorned signage would appear smaller, allowing for larger signage.
While conventional horticulture at ground level through professional landscaping helps, more is needed to beautify commercial structures. Conventional planter containers and their accessory products are not adequately associated with the sign. Means for raising and lowering plants and means for irrigating plants to facilitate maintenance are not provided with existing commercial structures. The tension between opponents and the signage industry has stifled innovation where it is needed most.
Accordingly, a need exists for a planter system with an adjustable height planter featuring optional waterfalls, fountains, misting, removable and rotatable vessels, a plurality of hanging objects, and irrigation of the planter and/or surrounding terrain. Furthermore, a need exists for a system to which banners and flags may be coupled so that they may be conveniently raised and lowered. The invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems and solving one or more of the needs as set forth above.